Contribution to financing the Paraguay-Paraná Waterway

A financing agreement was signed on September 19 by the five member countries of MERCOSUR, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Andean Development Corporation (CAF). Under the agreement, the multilateral institution grants non-reimbursable technical cooperation for US$54,000 to finance the first part of the updating process of the studies for the Paraguay-Paraná Waterway Program.

The agreement was signed by the CAF integration director, Carlos Zannier, the executive secretary of the inter-governmental committee on the Waterway, Antonio Basadonna, and the UNDP resident representative in Argentina, Jessica Faietta, in the presence of the Argentine foreign minister and the minister heads of delegation of the five MERCOSUR member countries.

The operation provides financial assistance for the international bidding process for contracting consulting services to update the technical studies on the social-environmental, economic-financial and legal-institutional aspects of the program, along with the engineering design of the works to be executed in the Waterway. The program is expected to facilitate shipping, transport and development of the areas of influence of these important navigable rivers.

This is the first financing the CAF has granted to the MERCOSUR countries as a group (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia which is an associate member) for a major integration infrastructure project. It is also the first stage of the CAF’s participation and support for the infrastructure plan.

The multinational lender’s support for the Waterway will contribute to the economic and social development of surrounding localities and regions in all five countries, stimulating trade and global competitiveness. The project is a fundamental link in the communication network that the CAF is promoting in the context of the South American Regional Integration Initiative (IIRSA).

The Paraguay-Paraná Waterway is part of the Orinoco-Amazon-Plate multimodal integration and development corridor which will vertically integrate Venezuela with the south cone, as well as connecting the inter-oceanic corridor that links the Atlantic coast of Brazil with the Pacific coast of the southern Peru and northern Chile.